Definition
A record book maintained by the directors of chancery in Scots law, in which were entered all non-entry duties and relief duties payable by heirs who obtained precepts from chancery. When a person succeeded to heritable property in Scotland, certain feudal dues — non-entry duties (accrued when lands were held without proper entry) and relief duties (a fee paid by an heir on entering to the superior's lands) — were owed to the Crown or superior. The Responde Book served as the official register of those obligations, documenting what each heir was liable to pay upon taking out a precept of clare constat or other chancery instrument confirming their succession.
The term "responde" derives from the Latin respondeo (to answer, to be answerable for), signaling that the book recorded what heirs stood answerable to pay.
Why It Matters in Research
This is a term of exclusively Scots law with no functional equivalent in English common law or American legal practice. Researchers encountering the term in historical sources should understand that it operates entirely within the feudal land tenure system of Scotland and has no natural translation into English equity or common law concepts of inheritance.
The Responde Book is institutional-era Scots law material. Bouvier cites Stair's Institutions and Erskine's Institutes as authorities, which tells researchers that the governing framework predates the Heritable Jurisdictions Act 1746 and subsequent Scottish feudal reforms. By the time the great feudal burdens were formally abolished — a process culminating in the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 — the practical relevance of the Responde Book had long since faded. Researchers working in post-1745 Scottish legal history may find references to it as a historical artifact rather than a living instrument.
For researchers using Law Mind corpus materials, this term will surface almost exclusively in comparative law contexts, Scots law primers embedded in Anglo-American treatises, or in glossary-style treatments by compilers like Bell or Erskine. Do not expect to find it in American or English case law. If it appears in an American source, the author is almost certainly citing Bouvier or a Scots law treatise for encyclopedic completeness, not for operative doctrine.
Non-entry duties and relief duties themselves have separate doctrinal histories worth tracing independently if the research question extends to feudal tenure reform.
Historical Dictionary Support
The four source dictionaries are in close agreement on the core definition, differing only in phrasing and citation practice. All four identify the Responde Book as a chancery record of non-entry and relief duties in Scots practice. Bouvier adds the most useful bibliographic depth, citing Stair's Institutions (p. 296, § 28) and Erskine's Institutes (II.5.50), which are the primary Scots institutional authorities. Burrill and Black (both editions) rely on Bell's Dictionary as their authority — a secondary source derived from the same institutional tradition.
None of the historical dictionaries explains the procedural mechanics of how the book was maintained, who had access to it, or how entries were enforced. Researchers seeking that operational detail must consult Stair and Erskine directly. The dictionaries treat this as a definitional entry, not a doctrinal one, and their brevity reflects the term's narrow functional scope rather than any editorial oversight.
Jurisdictional Note
This term is confined to Scots law. It has no analogue in English common law, Welsh law, or any American jurisdiction. Researchers approaching it from an English or American background should treat the entire conceptual apparatus — precepts from chancery, non-entry duties, relief duties, heritable succession — as belonging to a distinct legal tradition requiring separate orientation.